Breaststroke

Congratulations on taking the first step on improving your breaststroke knowledge and technique.

Whether you are an experienced swimmer who wants to get faster, a coach who want to learn drills and techniques to improve your athletes or are a complete beginner; you have come to the right place. From a learning point of view, breaststroke is the most difficult to teach and learn. That is why we have dedicated this complete website to this stroke.

Take your time to read the overview below to find out the basics and then explore this site further to get more in depth knowledge on techniques, rules, drills, workouts and more.

Breaststroke Techniques

There are different techniques used in this stroke and many of them have been successful. Which one is the best for you will depend on your body shape and strength. Some swimmers get very high in the water and almost try to bound over it while others are much lower and power through the water.

This is a very unique stroke in that it is the slowest of the 4 competitive strokes yet it actually generates the most power out of the 4. The reason it is the slowest is because it the least streamlined of the competitive strokes and as a result produces the most resistance against the water.

It is therefore important that your technique is based around producing force but also reducing the amount of resistance you produce while performing each stroke. This is where the skill comes into it but don’t worry, we’ve got every aspect covered!

Breaststroke Drills

The drills you need to perform to improve are broken down into many parts. The main parts that you need to focus on are:

Arms

Kick drills

Timing drills

Breathing

Speed drills

Starts and Turns

By breaking the stroke down into these sections you can focus on a particular section until your do it automatically. This helps your overall performance and we will take you through each drill. It is not only important to know how to complete each drill but also understand what each drill is trying to achieve. By enhancing your knowledge of the technique you will then be able to make adjustments yourself or even begin your coaching career!

Teaching Breaststroke

The drills and information we give you will enable you to teach any level of swimmer. This could range from the more advanced to the 7 year old beginner. When teaching any swimming stroke it is important that you follow a progression. The type of topics you need to cover in a progression are:

Arm pattern

Breathing

Leg kick

Full stroke

Each one of these areas is vital if you want your student/athlete to perform the stroke well. The kick is what most beginners struggle with. All other strokes push the water with the top and bottom of the foot but breaststroke pushes water with the inside of the foot and this is what many beginners have difficulty with. It is important to give them a feeling of how to do this outside the pool before you get them to try it inside the pool.

Current Breaststroke World Records (Long Course)

Women’s 50m: 29.48 Rūta Meilutytė

Women’s 100m: 1:04.35 Rūta Meilutytė

Women’s 200m: 2:19.11 Rikke Møller Pedersen

Men’s 50m: 26.42 Adam Peaty

Men’s 100m: 57.13 Adam Peaty

Men’s 200m 2:07.01 Akihiro Yamaguchi

So these are the current standard. You may feel like you’re a fair way from that now but always dream big and if the desire in you is strong enough and you master the technique you may surprise yourself.

What Next?

Continue to read more in depth information about breaststroke. We have dedicated an entire site to this stroke because we love it so much and love to teach it. We recommend you get started with a better understanding of the drills and workouts required. Check out the following pages